


Act Now, Without Delay

by evvianas6



Category: Zeroes Series - Scott Westerfeld
Genre: Canon Compliant, First Meetings, Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-07-10 15:50:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15952556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evvianas6/pseuds/evvianas6
Summary: Life-changing events, Thibault had found, did not come with a warning, but rather a vague sense that something was about to happen.





	Act Now, Without Delay

Thibault was sitting on a park bench in suburban Cambria when his life changed forever. He had taken to walking lately, unable to keep sitting in his hotel room and wallowing in his own thoughts. 

It was honestly a miracle that he’d been there at the right time to see dozens of bicyclists ride past, following a girl with a boy balancing on her handlebars. Thibault leaned forward, trying to get a better look. Well, that was strange. The bikers were united by thick strands of attention, all centered on the boy and the girl in front. But the attention wrapped around the boy, and when he moved, so did everybody else. It was almost like . . . he was controlling them.

As soon as Thibault made that realization, he took off at a run. He was lucky the bicyclists weren’t moving too fast, or he’d never catch up to them. 

Stray lines of attention landed on him from the other people in the park, but he didn’t bother to chop them off. No one would see the strange kid chasing after a pack of cyclists, and besides, he didn’t have time. 

He rounded a corner and almost fell, but caught himself and kept running. He could feel himself being drawn into the web of attention, his gaze staying fixed on the boy in front of him. 

Thankfully, it wasn’t long before they started to slow, and Thibault could catch his breath. Just before they had passed the park’s border, the boy cut the connection, and the rest of the bikers rode past while the two of them dismounted. 

“Hey!” Thibault called as he jogged over, unsure about how else to proceed. A stray thread of attention glanced on him, but only barely. It was early Saturday morning, and already there were too many people in the park for him to be seen. Not for the first time, Thibault cursed his power, or whatever it was that he had. Finally he had found people like him, but he couldn’t even get them to notice. 

“Hey,” Thibault said again. “I saw what you did back there.”

That got their attention. The boy narrowed his eyes at him, and-oh, that was strange. The girl was wearing dark glasses, like she was blind, but her attention was angled through the boy’s eyes, as if she was seeing through them. 

He shook his head, dismissing the thought as soon as it had come to him. That was impossible. 

“Nate, I can’t see through his eyes,” The girl said urgently, and the boy’s-Nate’s-face creased in confusion. 

“Who?” he asked.

“What?” The girl said, and just like that, they had forgotten him. Thibault sighed. At least his theory about the girl’s power had been confirmed.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, and plunged forward. “Look, I saw what you did. I know you two have powers.”

“What?” Nate asked sharply, his focus narrowing. 

“How did you know?” The girl demanded, stepping forward and glaring at him. 

Thibault hesitated. He wanted so desperately to talk to them, to share with people who might be just a little like him. But that old fear was rising up in him again-the fear that once he’d opened up, exposed that vulnerable part of himself, that he would be shut out and forgotten once again. 

But the longer he waited, the harder it would be-both to get them to remember him, and to ever open up to anyone again. 

“I’m like you,” Thibault said. There, three little words. Just like that. “Well, not exactly. People forget about me. That’s my power.”

It felt strange, to say that-like what he had was a gift, something special and important, instead of something that had pretty much ruined his life.

But the two of them were nodding, their connection with him growing stronger by virtue of something in common. It was a start, even if they’d forget about him in the next five minutes.

“I’m Nate,” The boy said, holding his hand out for Thibault to shake like he was some sort of businessman instead of a thirteen or fourteen-year-old kid. “And this is Riley.”

“Thibault,” he said, shaking Nate’s hand. “Can I borrow your phone?”

Nate frowned, but a thread of his attention curled towards his pocket, revealing its location. He grabbed it, and chopped away the thread of notice that followed with the flat of his hand. Luckily, the phone wasn’t locked, and he quickly added his phone number to Nate’s contacts.

Thibault, he typed, and then (Boy w/ powers you met at the park), and finally (Call me). 

When he handed the phone back, both Nate and Riley were looking at him, clearly confused. 

“Who are you?” He asked, frowning.

“Check your phone,” Thibault said, and smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are always welcome


End file.
